Travel is one of those things that almost everyone wants to do more of, but few ever manage to make happen. The more I talk to people about traveling, the more I keep hearing the same reasons why people don't travel more—and it's all about time or money.

The travel industry does a good job of hiding deals and affordable ways to travel. They prefer to paint the image that travel is very expensive and in order to have an enjoyable vacation, you must spend a lot of money. Why? Because big, expensive vacations mean more money for them. And, it's the big hotels that have advertising budgets, not small mom and pop shops. As a result, people tend to be unaware of the plethora of ways to save money on traveling.

Below is a list of 10 of my favorite travel hacks from around the world to get you traveling cheaper and more often.

Avoid All Bank Fees

Bank fees can really eat into your trip. You didn't save all that money only to give it to a bank, right? To avoid paying bank fees, sign up for a Capital One or Chase credit card (no foreign transaction fees) and a Schwab checking account (all ATM fees reimbursed each month). Five dollars here and there might not seem like a lot at the time, but it all adds up in the long run. By doing these two things, you'll never pay another bank fee again. Save your money for more important things. If you don't want to get a Schwab account, you can also join a bank that is part of the Global ATM Alliance—all ATM fees are waived if you use a machine from banks involved in the alliance. Image via Shutterstock.

Find Cheap Accommodation in Asia

If you are traveling through Southeast Asia, try to avoid booking your accommodation online. While you can find good deals online in larger cities, the best and most affordable places are the guesthouses and budget hotels not found online. Since most hotel booking sites take a commission for bookings made, most small guesthouses in Asia don't have the profit margins to afford that fee and thus are not listed. To find a more complete listing of accommodation in Asia, use Tripadvisor or Travelfish—free services which have better lists of budget places.

You can use this tip throughout the developing world. While looking up rooms in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, I found over 100 properties on Tripadvisor but less than 20 on Hotels.com. This mismatch happens throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and many other places around the world. Look on Tripadvisor before you book, and you'll find more places to stay than on regular booking sites.

Better Yet, Find Free Accommodation

One of the best ways to save money on accommodations is by not paying for it. Stay with a local who will give you a free place to rest your head, local information, and someone to hang out with! There are a few websites that make this happen:

All of these services connect travelers with people in various cities that offer a no-cost place to stay. Sometimes it's a bed, sometimes it's a couch, sometimes it's literally just space. The purpose of these websites is to help travelers not only save money, but also learn about the local culture. Additionally, you can also house swap with someone or house sit for someone while they are on a vacation.

Eat Cheap in England

The Taste of the UK card is a dining card that offers 50% off and many 2-for-1 specials at over 5,500 restaurants in the UK. Considering how expensive it is to eat out in the UK—especially in London—this card can be a lifesaver. Additionally, you get a free 30-day trial, so you won't have to pay for the card providing your holiday is less than 30 days long. You do need to have it mailed to a UK address, so I simply provide the address of the hotel where I'm staying and the problem is solved!

Take 50% Off Train Tickets in Europe

Train tickets in Europe are up to 50% off when you book two or more weeks in advance. Booking trains at the last minute gets you a much higher fare than booking early. If I'm not traveling on a rail pass, I always book my tickets as soon as I know my travel dates. You should too, if you want to save money. For most countries in Europe, you can simply purchase your tickets online via their national rail website. Image via Matt Kepnes.

Take 70% Off Train Passes in Australia

You know what's really expensive? Taking the train in Australia. You know what is one of the most scenic things to do in Australia? Taking the train in Australia. The famous Ghan through the desert is $774 for an adult. (Though it's $460 for students or those with a YHA card). The Sydney to Perth Indian Pacific line? $779 ($377 for students).

Luckily, there's a loophole—getting an Australia rail passes cuts your costs by up to 70%! You can buy a pass for all the train lines in Australia (about 10) for $722 AUD or one for only the 3 most famous: The Ghan, the Indian Pacific, and the Overland (Melbourne to Adelaide) for only $450 AUD. And the backpacker/student pass is only $298 AUD. These passes are incredible value and make train travel in Australia an affordable option. Even if you are only using one route, buying the pass is still cheaper than buying the normal priced fare. Image via Shutterstock.

Buy City Tourist Cards

City passes are tourism cards that provide free (or discounted) entry into a city's museums and activities as well as free public transportation and discounts on some restaurants and shopping. If I plan on seeing a lot of attractions in one destination, I always get these passes. I've saved hundreds of dollars using them and the free public transportation comes in really handy. Even if these passes will only save me a dollar, I get them. I used one in London and save over $100 dollars on attractions.

Get Free Booze on Your Cruise

Alcohol is not included in the cost of a cruise. A way to get around those $6 drinks that is to sneak your own booze onto the ship. While not illegal, it is frowned upon and if the crew catches you, they will take your alcohol away. To ensure they don't catch you, get a Rum Runners flask. These containers pass through x-ray scanners by not showing any air bubbles, thus appearing as a solid object and therefore undetectable. Bring a few of your favorite bottles onboard, save lots of money, cruise cheaply. Image via Shutterstock.

Go On Free Tours

In most major cities around the world, you can find free walking tours that will show you the city's highlights and help you learn about the culture. In NYC, you can use Big Apple Greeters; in Paris, there's "Paris Greeters." In Europe, almost every big city hosts a free walking tour, with the biggest company being New Europe Tours. Moreover, you can also use the hospitality site Couchsurfing. Many of the locals on that site are more than happy to show visitors around and they'll give you a first hand look at the local culture.

Fly for Free

Finally, let's talk about how to get free flights. Flying is one of the biggest expenses of someone's travel budget but luckily, we have tons of opportunities to fly for free. Airlines in the States give out miles like candy on Halloween. Simply sign up for a few airline-branded credit cards, grab those mega bonuses, and find yourself on a flight for little more than the service fee for using those miles.

I've gained over 700,000 free miles using reward credit cards. I always sign up for new bonuses, use the card, get the miles, and then fly where I want for free. There is a whole subculture related to this type of "travel hacking." If you don't want to use this method but are still looking on ways to find a cheap flight, consider racking up miles doing the following things:

Shop at member stores: All airlines have special deals with large consumer companies such as Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, and Target. Shopping at those preferred stores will earn you on average 2 to 4 miles per dollar spent, sometimes even up to 10 miles per dollar spent. If you spend 1,000 dollars a month, you can earn up to 3,000 miles just by going through their websites. The products don't cost extra so you only win, you don't lose. I do all my shopping through the airline partners simply for the extra miles.

Watch for special promotions: I sign up for newsletters because they often have featured offers not found on an airline's website. This could be triple miles on a selected route or as simple as Starwood's recent promotion. I signed up for their newsletter and got 250 SPG points. American Airlines once gave away 1,000 points for installing a shopping tool bar into your web browser. I GOT 500 United points for filling out a survey. These bonuses don't go into the high tens of thousands but you can get a little over a long period of time by doing virtually nothing. They add up.

Be a Crazy Flyer: On forums like Flyertalk, where people hunt out the latest chances for miles, you often find people doing mileage runs. When airlines get into price wars or offer new routes, they often launch ridiculous double or triple mile offers or a stupidly cheap ticket like when United and American Airlines offered NYC to Hawaii for $400 round trip. Mileage runs are very common and while not free, can be a useful method to gain a lot of miles on the cheap. Image via Shutterstock.

Put everything on the card: I pay nothing in cash. I put everything on my travel credit card—from Starbucks to phone bills. My total monthly spending, including my business expenses, is about $3,000 per month. That's 36,000 miles—a one way flight to Europe for doing nothing special.

Sign up for newsletters: Get all the airline newsletters you can and watch out for special deals and fare sales because deals don't last long and when they are around, the can be amazing. I collate all the best deals on my newsletter each week and I also recommend Airfarewatchdog.

I don't have a lot of money. I never have and I'm also naturally cheap; I hate spending money, especially when I don't think I'm getting a lot of value for my dollar. Thus when I travel, I look for every little way to get more out of money so I can travel longer and cheaper. By following these strategies, you'll be able to have a great vacation, be closer to the people in the country you meet, and enjoy everything you'd do on one of those expensive magazine vacations—but without that expensive advertised price.

Matthew Kepnes runs the award winning budget travel site, Nomadic Matt. He got the travel bug after a trip to Costa Rica in 2004, and decided to quit his job, finish his MBA and travel the world. His original trip was supposed to last a year. Over six years later, he is still out exploring and roaming the world. He's scuba dived in Fiji, played professional poker in Amsterdam, taught English in Thailand, got lost in a jungle in Central America, and broke down in the middle of Australia's outback. Matt's advice has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian UK, Budget Travel, BBC, and Yahoo! Finance. His new 272 page, 60,000+ word book, How to Travel the World on $50 a Day, is now available to help you travel cheaper, better, and longer. It contains tons of tips and tricks to cut your trip expenses in half whether you are going away for two weeks or two months.